Gold responds to Birmingham ban

05 November 2010 09:17

David Gold has responded to his Birmingham ban by promising to welcome all members of the Blues board to Upton Park when the teams next meet.

Birmingham have banned the West Ham chairman from the St Andrew's directors box and boardroom for Saturday's Premier League visit of the Hammers.

The move was the latest twist in the ongoing quarrel between the two parties following Gold's alleged comments in Friday's newspapers about the club he was in charge of for 16 years along with David Sullivan. Gold described current City vice-chairman Peter Pannu as "disgusting", according to reports.

Gold claimed that he was denied the chance to remain as chairman of Birmingham by Pannu after he and Sullivan sold the midlands club to Carson Yeung for £8.5million. Pannu has been adamant Gold was never guaranteed such a role and he later rejected the chance to be a vice-president.

The Hammers chairman admits he is disappointed with the ban, but insists he will welcome the Birmingham board for the return game in February.

Gold told West Ham's official website: "I was looking forward to attending the game at Birmingham City FC, seeing old friends and was more than happy to put my personal differences aside for the day and shake hands with Peter Pannu and the rest of the Birmingham board.

"I am therefore extremely disappointed that the club has decide to withdraw their offer to invite me to St Andrew's.

"Despite this, I look forward to welcoming each member of the Birmingham City board to Upton Park when they visit us in February for the return fixture.

"I do not want this matter to overshadow or distract from what is a vital game for West Ham United, and as such I will not be making any further comments at this moment in time."